This June, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation will celebrate the completion of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC)—the Foundation’s largest single gift. Designed by world-renowned architect, Renzo Piano, the SNFCC includes new facilities for the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera, as well as the creation of the Stavros Niarchos Park. During the week of June 23 through 26, the SNFCC will host a series of programs and events for the citizens of Athens and the world, welcoming them to this emerging cultural destination. One of these programs includes a special four-night exhibition of work in the quintessential medium of the late 20th and early 21st centuries: video.

Following last summer’s Fireflies in the Night—a three-night non-stop dusk-to-dawn video survey of some of the best art of its kind produced internationally that was projected on screens located on the great lawn of the Stavros Niarchos Park—this year’s installment, titled Fireflies in the Night Take Wing, will consist of 11 separate looped video programs screened at 11 sites scattered throughout the SNFCC buildings and grounds. Each of these hour-long loops will be composed of different works by more than 50 international artists representing 29 countries—including Greek artists active in the cosmopolitan context of contemporary art.

In the spirit of French modernist poet and critic Charles Baudelaire’s concept of the urban wanderer—“le flâneur,” who discovers the marvels of the city according to chance and whim—this dispersed and varied program may be discovered in whatever sequence suits the viewer’s fancy. These far flung screenings will in effect map the key areas of the SNFCC and will be presented free-of-charge to the general public after each evening’s schedule of stage events. People will be encouraged to come-as-they-are, make themselves comfortable and follow their curiosity.

Paying homage to the SNFCC’s conception and aim to function as a versatile “green” indoor and outdoor home of arts and letters, the curatorial team assembled distinguished examples of recent video art that capture a range of genres, aesthetics, and modes of production, as well as timeless themes. The majority of the exhibited works critically comment on the human condition, identity, sexuality, history and the contemporary sociopolitical situation in a variety of ways ranging from darkly ominous, or humorous and upbeat and, on occasion, even to utopian optimism.

Robert Storr: Critic, curator, scholar, and painter, Robert Storr has been the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Dean of the School of Art of Yale (since 2006) where he is also professor of painting and printmaking.

Barbara London is a New York-based curator, consultant and writer who founded the video exhibition and collection programs at The Museum of Modern Art, where she worked between 1973 and 2013.

Kalliopi Minioudaki is an art historian who works as independent scholar, critic and curator in New York and Athens. She holds a PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and specializes in American and European postwar art from a feminist perspective.

Francesca Pietropaolo: Italian-born art historian, curator and critic currently based in Paris. Her research interests focus on postwar European and American art and on international contemporary art.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) is a multifunctional and environmentally sustainable education, arts, and recreation destination. It includes the new state-of-the-art facilities of the National Library of Greece, the Greek National Opera and the Stavros Niarchos Park, covering an area of 210,000 sqm.

Designed by the internationally-renowned architect Renzo Piano, the SNFCC offers a new landscape for the 21st century. One of the most significant cultural and environmental projects ever undertaken in Greece, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s largest single donation confirming the Foundation’s commitment to the country’s future, at a critical junction of its history.

The SNFCC will be completed and delivered to the Greek State. As a pioneering initiative, it regenerates the surrounding urban fabric, enriching the local communities and the image of the city as a whole; enhancing its environmental, social and economic sustainability aspect. Designed especially with the purpose of being open and accessible to all, it will enrich the everyday life of the country’s residents and aims to attract millions of visitors from around the world.

Exhibitions, symposia and teaching positions at art schools world wide

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